Royal Norfolk Show

At the end of last month I was invited by the Paint Out team to paint at the Royal Norfolk Show. The sun was shining at the time so I said yes.
The day arrived and it was throwing it down, cars were stuck in the mud and roadways were flooded.
Not deterred I headed out to find my subject. The fairground took my attention so I set up with an umbrella positioned carefully over my canvas and pallet.

'Not So Much Fun at the Fair' 10" x 10" oil on canvas board

I did enjoy painting this in spite of the rain but I wish I'd had a £1 for every time someone said "Are you painting watercolour?" I tipped the inch of water out of the box easel and moved to another spot.

'Judging the Pigs' 10' x 10" oil on canvas board

This again was fun but I decided that I was wet enough and went off to find somewhere a bit drier for my next subject

'Waiting to be Judged' 10" x 12" oil on canvas board

Well it would have been drier had I gone into the tent but as the rain had eased off a bit I stood outside as I liked the feeling of being able to look through the tent.

Day Two

Hurrah, no rain.

It was still a bit soggy underfoot and I went with Haidee to the chicken tent. The prize winners were all in their cages with the rosettes and made a great subject, I left Haidee painting those and chose this slightly different view with artist Paul Alcock in the background.

'Which Came First?'  -  sold

My next picture was a picture asking to painted. I saw it and had to stop. These fine bullocks were waiting to go into the ring, they weren't there long so had to rely on memory, the picture needs revisiting in the studio maybe to slightly adjust the shape of the animals

Waiting to go into the Ring 10" x 10"

We had to be back at the Paint Out marquee by 3pm for prize giving. There were 13 of us artists in total and the sponsers had given cash prizes for those pictures they judged the best. First prize went to Robert Nelmes for and amazing painting of the farriers at work and second prize went to Tom Cringle for, again, another wonderful painting.

11 happy and now dry artists

At the end of the day, another prize was awarded - The Spirit of Plein Air. Imagine my surprise when it was awarded jointly to myself and my buddy Haidee-Jo Summers

'Spirit of Plein air'

All round it was a good experience, would I do it again next year?? Maybe I'll check the long range weather forecast first

Patchings

Patchings Art Festival at Calverton near Nottingham just gets better. It was a hot day and the art clubs were out in force. Coaches seemed to have come from far and wide. I didn’t arrive until early afternoon so was directed to a third car park which was also pretty full.

The atmosphere was wonderful with a brass band playing. There are several tents with artists giving demonstrations and workshops. Malcolm Cudmore, our April demonstrator, had just finished running his workshop so we had a quick chat.

I wandered into the marquee where artists have their own stands. It is very well laid out and leads you though in a zig zag so you don’t miss anyone. Most of the stands have the artist demonstrating and all are happy to chat and give advice.

Linda Matthews was there promoting a Brush With the Broads. This will be the third year she has run it. Just round the corner was a Cornish artist that I know, she was flanked by our May demonstrator Tim Fisher and on the other side was Mr Wooley demonstrating and selling his ‘wonder brush’. There were quite a few other artists that I knew having travelled and painted with them at various Plein Air Competitions and festivals so it was slow progress getting round the marquee. I had a long chat with Haidee-Jo Summers, our demonstrator last Christmas. She is selling her new DVD which is also available on her  website - http://www.haideejo.com/.

All in all, there were over 60 artists demonstrating their skills, most of them with their paintings and greetings cards on show to buy.

The next marquee is dedicated to materials and art shops. One of my first calls was to Rosemary Brushes where, needless to say, I spent a fortune, only because I bought so many, they are such good value. I was also pleased to find Vicki Norman there promoting Michael Harding paints, that was a credit card job!

I managed to resist all the other promotions and discounts as I went round the rest of the exhibitors.

The next Marquee was mostly crafts. Anything from glassware, knitting, woodwork to sculpture. I did a little bit of retail therapy with a nice man selling amazing homemade soaps and candles.

I suddenly realised that it had gone a bit quiet – it was almost closing time and I hadn’t been to see the exhibition so it was a quick dash down to the main building where The Artist exhibition was being held. I was pleased I did, as I was delighted to see that I had won The Arist Exhibition Award and the Royal Talens Award.

What a wonderful day, I drove home with a big smile on my face.